Cobian Backup

Cobian Backup Review

Cobian Backup, despite its discontinuation, remains a notable application in the realm of free Windows backup software. During its active development period, it garnered a reputation for being a reliable, flexible, and feature-rich solution for both personal and small-business data protection.

One of Cobian Backup's primary strengths was its comprehensive approach to file and folder-level backups. It didn't aim to be a full disk imaging solution, but within its scope of file-based backups, it offered a surprising depth of functionality. Users could configure multiple backup tasks, each with distinct source and destination settings, scheduling, and other parameters. This task-based approach provided excellent flexibility for backing up different types of data or backing up the same data to multiple locations.

The support for various backup types - full, incremental, and differential - was crucial for efficient storage management and faster backup times. Incremental backups, in particular, were effective for frequent backups of actively changing data, as they only transferred the modified files. The inclusion of VSS support was another significant advantage, allowing backups of files that might otherwise be locked by running applications, crucial for databases or active documents.

Security was clearly a priority for the developer. The support for strong encryption algorithms meant that users could confidently back up sensitive data knowing it would be protected from unauthorized access even if the backup media fell into the wrong hands. This level of encryption was not always standard in free backup utilities.

The software's scheduling capabilities were highly configurable, allowing users to set up backups to run at specific times, on certain days, or even based on intervals. This automation was essential for ensuring backups were performed regularly without requiring manual intervention.

Destinations were not limited to local drives and network shares; the ability to back up directly to FTP servers was a significant plus, offering a simple way to implement offsite backups without relying on commercial cloud storage providers (though support for some cloud services like Amazon S3 was also added later). Compression options further enhanced the practicality of backups by reducing the storage footprint.

The user interface, while functional, could be considered somewhat dated compared to modern applications. However, it was generally intuitive for anyone familiar with configuring software settings. The logging and reporting features were valuable for monitoring the success or failure of backup tasks, providing essential feedback on the status of data protection efforts.

Running Cobian Backup as a Windows service was a key feature for unattended backups, ensuring that scheduled tasks would execute regardless of whether a user was logged in. This was particularly useful for server environments or for ensuring home PC backups ran overnight.

Overall, Cobian Backup provided a robust and reliable platform for file and folder backups on Windows. Its combination of flexible task configuration, multiple backup types, strong encryption, and versatile destination options made it a standout freeware application for many years. While no longer actively developed, its legacy demonstrates the power of well-designed, donation-supported software in addressing critical user needs.